Large Format photography in “Treasured Lands”

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In exactly one week, I will be giving a second lecture about “Treasured Lands”, the exhibition of my 58 images of the National Parks at the National Heritage Museum. Since in my first lecture, I talked quite a bit about large format photography, I won’t do it again in the new lecture, and instead focus on new work done in the interval. Here are some remarks delivered during the first lecture.

In the summer of 1993, after moving to the San Francisco Bay area,
inspired by the rich local tradition of US Western landscape
photography, I began to use the large format camera. The more
contemplative approach that this exacting type of photography
promotes, and the extremely detailed prints it produces are perfect
for making the viewer feel immersed in the land. I had found the
perfect tool to share the sense of wonder and passion inspired by the
US National Parks. Each image in the “Treasured Lands” exhibit was
photographed using the same large format camera.

You need to operate such an instrument in a more deliberate way than a
small format camera. Just to be able to see the composition, you need
to put the camera on a sturdy tripod and slip under the a dark cloth –
because the viewing glass is so dim. As everything is manual, not only
focus and exposure, but also film transport, there are countless ways
to ruin an image. The cost of each exposure adds to the time
commitment it requires, favoring more conscious decision making. You
need to make choices before shooting, rather than doing so after the
shoot.

The primary reason for putting up with such a demanding camera – so
heavy to carry in the wilderness – is the amount of detail recorded,
thanks to the sheer dimensions of the sheet of 5×7 transparency film,
whose surface area is about 25 times that of a 35mm (“full”) frame.
Moreover, besides the focussing knobs, there are six other mechanical
controls that affect perspective and sharpness distribution. For
instance, by tilting the lens with respect to the film plane, I can
get in perfect focus two objects that are at a different distance from
the camera, rendering deep space in a uniformly clear way.

When I photograph a wide-angle scene, with an angle of view equivalent
to that of a 24mm lens on 35mm camera, I am using a lens of 110mm
focal length on my large format camera. A tree in the distant
background is rendered as clearly as if I had focussed on it with a
telephoto, and framed it tight. I do not need to direct the viewer’s
attention to it, but they can discover that tree when they explore the
image for themselves.

This descriptive power let me produce images that are complex, taking the whole
scene in without a singular point of focus, because they have so much
detail that the viewers could take time and read them, look at all the
features, and discover highlights and inter-relationships for themselves.

In that sense, those photographs give a sense of place and time by
letting the viewers see through the images as much as I saw myself.
They allow them to stand before the landscape in a state of heightened
awareness similar to mine. Although they would observe these natural
wonders through my own celebratory perspective, they would realize
that there is nothing they could not experience for
themselves. Hopefully, this would help them recognize that those
unique areas are truly treasures to be preserved and protected for
future generations.

QT Luong is a full-time photographer and author with a broad range of work on natural and cultural landscapes, noted for being the first to photograph each of the 59 US National Parks - in large format, the subject of Treasured Lands, winner of six national book awards.